Your server. Your rules. No cloud. No accounts with Big Tech. No one reading your messages.

Haven is a self-hosted Discord alternative. Run it on your machine. Invite friends with a code. No cloud. No email signup. No tracking. Free forever.

Want a native desktop experience? Haven Desktop is a standalone app that connects to any Haven server — with features that go beyond the browser.

Haven Desktop is now available as a public beta. Download the installer and connect to your server in seconds.

• Per-Application Audio — share audio from a single app during screen share, just like Discord. Powered by native WASAPI (Windows) and PulseAudio (Linux) hooks.
• Audio Device Switching — change your mic and speaker mid-call without leaving voice chat
• Native Desktop Notifications — OS-level notifications via the system tray
• Minimize to Tray — keeps running quietly in the background
• One-Click Install — NSIS installer (Windows), AppImage / .deb (Linux). Download, run, done.

⚠️ This is a beta release. Bugs are expected. Your feedback is what makes it better — please open an issue if something breaks or feels off.

You still need a Haven server. The desktop app is a client — it connects to a Haven server. Download and run Haven first if you haven't already.

📥 Download Haven Desktop →

Want Haven on your phone? Haven Android is a native Android app built from the ground up, now in closed beta on Google Play.

Haven Android features full chat and voice support, push notifications, and a true mobile-native experience.

• Native Android — built from scratch specifically for Haven, not a web wrapper
• Push Notifications — real-time notifications via Google Play services
• Full Chat & Voice — all the features you love, in your pocket

🚀 Want to join the beta? Visit amni-scient.com/amni-haven.html to request access to the closed beta.

You still need a Haven server. The Android app is a client — it connects to a Haven server. Download and run Haven first if you haven't already.

Built with ❤️ by Amnibro — huge thanks for his incredible work building the Haven Android app from the ground up.

📲 Request Android Beta Access →

Leaving Discord? Haven can import your entire server's message history — directly from the app. No external tools, no command-line exports, no hassle.

Open Settings → Import and connect with your Discord token. Haven pulls every channel, thread, forum post, announcement, reaction, pin, attachment, and avatar — then lets you map them to Haven channels. Your community's history comes with you.

• Direct Connect — paste your Discord token, pick a server, select channels & threads, import
• File Upload — or upload a DiscordChatExporter JSON/ZIP if you prefer
• Full fidelity — messages, replies, embeds, attachments, reactions, pins, forum tags, all preserved
• Discord avatars — imported messages show the original author's Discord profile picture
• All channel types — text, announcement, forum, media, plus active & archived threads

Your entire Discord history, now on a server you own. No one can delete it, no one can read it, no one can take it away.

Option A — Pre-built image (fastest):

docker pull ghcr.io/ancsemi/haven:latest
docker run -d -p 3000:3000 -v haven_data:/data ghcr.io/ancsemi/haven:latest

Option B — Build from source:

git clone https://github.com/ancsemi/Haven.git
cd Haven
docker compose up -d

Open https://localhost:3000 → Register with username admin → Create a channel → Share the code with friends. Done.

Certificate warning is normal — click Advanced → Proceed. Haven uses a self-signed cert for encryption.

1. Download and unzip this repository
2. Double-click Start Haven.bat
3. If Node.js isn't installed, the script will offer to install it for you automatically

That's it. The batch file handles everything — Node.js installation, dependencies, SSL certificates, config — and opens your browser. Register as admin to get started.

Don't have Node.js? No problem. The launcher detects this and can install it for you with one keypress. Or install it yourself from nodejs.org and restart your PC.

chmod +x start.sh
./start.sh

Or manually: npm install && node server.js

• Small friend groups who want a private place to talk
• Self-hosters who run services on their own hardware
• Privacy-conscious communities done with Big Tech
• LAN gaming crews who need voice + screen share without Discord
• Homelab enthusiasts looking for a lightweight chat service

If your friends aren't on your WiFi, you need to open a port on your router.

Go to whatismyip.com. That's the address your friends will use.

1. Log into your router (usually http://192.168.1.1 or http://10.0.0.1)
2. Find Port Forwarding (sometimes called NAT or Virtual Servers)
3. Forward port 3000 (TCP) to your PC's local IP
4. Save

Find your local IP: Open Command Prompt → type ipconfig → look for IPv4 Address (e.g. 192.168.1.50)

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Haven Chat" -Direction Inbound -LocalPort 3000 -Protocol TCP -Action Allow

Send them:

https://YOUR_PUBLIC_IP:3000

Tell them to click Advanced → Proceed on the certificate warning. It's normal.

Haven creates a .env config file automatically on first launch — you don't need to create or rename anything. It lives in your data directory:

After editing .env, restart the server.

Type / in the message box to see the full list. Here are some highlights:

25 themes, switchable from the sidebar:

Haven · Discord · Matrix · Tron · HALO · Lord of the Rings · Cyberpunk · Nord · Dracula · Bloodborne · Ice · Abyss

Your theme choice persists across sessions.

1. Join a text channel
2. Click 🎤 Join Voice
3. Allow microphone access
4. Adjust anyone's volume with their slider
5. Click 📞 Leave when done

Voice is peer-to-peer — audio goes directly between users, not through the server. Requires HTTPS.

• Join / leave cues — synthesized audio tones when users enter or leave voice.
• Talking indicators — usernames glow green when speaking (300 ms hysteresis for smooth animation).
• Screen sharing — click 🖥️ Share Screen to broadcast your display. Multiple users can share simultaneously in a tiled grid.

If you registered with the admin username, you can:

• Create / delete channels
• Kick users — disconnects them (they can rejoin)
• Mute users — timed mute (can't send messages)
• Ban users — permanent ban (can't connect)
• Delete users — remove banned accounts (frees up their username)
• Auto-cleanup — configure automatic deletion of old messages (Settings → Admin)
• Server settings — EULA, max message age, DB size limits

Access admin controls in the Settings panel (⚙️ gear icon in the sidebar).

Haven automatically generates self-signed SSL certificates on first launch — but only if OpenSSL is installed on your system.

How to tell which mode you're in: Look at the startup banner in the terminal window. If the URL shows http:// — you're on HTTP. If it shows https:// — you're on HTTPS.

If Haven falls back to HTTP (no OpenSSL, or cert generation failed):

• Everything works fine for local use — just use http://localhost:3000
• Voice chat will only work on localhost, not for remote friends
• To enable HTTPS:
  1. Install OpenSSL: slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html (the "Light" version)
  2. During install, choose "Copy OpenSSL DLLs to the Windows system directory"
  3. Restart your PC
  4. Delete %APPDATA%\Haven\certs and re-launch Start Haven.bat

All your data lives in a dedicated directory outside the Haven code folder:

Inside you'll find:

• haven.db — all messages, users, and channels
• .env — your configuration
• certs/ — SSL certificates
• uploads/ — uploaded images

Copy the entire folder somewhere safe to back up everything. The Haven code directory contains no personal data.

Haven has a built-in GIF picker powered by GIPHY. To enable it you need a free API key.

1. Go to developers.giphy.com
2. Sign up for an account (or sign in)

1. Click Create an App
2. Choose API (not SDK)
3. Give it any name (e.g. "Haven Chat") and a short description
4. Copy the API Key shown on the next page

1. Log into Haven as your admin account
2. Click the GIF button (🎞️) in the message input area
3. You'll see a setup prompt — paste your API key and save
4. The key is stored server-side in the database — only admins can see or change it

That's it. All users can now search and send GIFs.

Free tier: GIPHY's free tier allows plenty of requests for a private chat server — you'll never come close to the limit.

Planned features — roughly in priority order:

Want something else? Open an issue — PRs are always welcome.

MIT-NC — free to use, modify, and share. Not for resale. See LICENSE.

Original project: github.com/ancsemi/Haven

⬡ Haven — Because your conversations are yours.